Turkish parliament’s silence over child sexual abuse

The meeting on child sexual abuse in the Turkish parliament is conducted with only a limited number of MPs from the opposition parties on Tuesday. The meeting was held to discuss a report prepared by a parliamentary investigation committee, which was established to research all kinds of child abuses, especially sexual abuses, and to identify necessary precautions to be taken.

According to parliamentary main opposition CHP deputy, Aykut Erdoğdu, there were limited number of MPs from opposition parties who participated in the discussion meeting, while no MPS from the ruling AKP party was there to discuss the problem.

The rate of sexual crimes, sexual assaults, harassments and child sexual abuses has extremely increased during the rule of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s AKP party since the year of 2002. The rate of child abuses in Turkey increased by 700 percent in the last ten years in Turkey, according to a report on child abuse prepared by Prevention of Violence and Rehabilitation Organization.

In 2016, the AKP deputies had tried to introduce a law enacting that if a girl, who suffered from sexual abuse, is married up with her rapist, the rape would not be considered a crime. The Turkish government had to withdraw the relevant draft law after severe criticisms.